Some mobile devices, such as cellular phones, may include an image capture device, such as a camera. A user of the mobile device can conveniently capture and store images using the image capture device. Typically, a stored image can be viewed using a display on the mobile device. The mobile device typically allows selected images to be retrieved from memory and transmitted to a remote location, such as another mobile device or a networked computer.
However, the typical mobile device provides only limited opportunities and processes for generating a hard copy of a stored image. Most mobile devices lack any ability to autonomously generate a hard copy output, mainly due to the limited physical size of the mobile device. Therefore, a mobile device needs to interface with an output device, such as a printer, in order to produce a hard copy output of a stored image.
Mobile devices are typically required to interface with the output device through some intermediate device, such as a computer, in order to control the output device. The actual interface with the output device is controlled by the computer and not the mobile device. Therefore, in order to produce a hard copy output of a stored image, the mobile device communicates the stored image to the computer, and the user controls the computer to produce the hard copy output from the output device.
The presently available process for producing a hard copy output of a stored image is tedious and not convenient for the user of the mobile device. Additionally, the output process is inflexible and requires the user to have access to a computer coupled to an output device.